Archive for the ‘Tours’ Category

Four special 2-hour walking tours of places in Chicago’s Loop that are part of the Lincoln Legacy

Pullman Building

Abraham Lincoln visited Chicago repeatedly during a 13-year span from 1847 to 1860, and his funeral train came through the city in 1865. Tad Lincoln died here, Mary attempted suicide here, and Robert Todd Lincoln became a lawyer and practiced law here. These tours will visit many sites important to the Lincoln legacy in Chicago.

Tour Highlights:

Lake Street, That Great Street. Saturday March 7, 10:06 a.m. Meet at James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph Street. We visit sites including the Wigwam, where Lincoln was nominated for President in 1860; the Tremont House, Abe’s favorite Hotel; and Crosby’s Opera House where Robert Todd Lincoln’s first law office was located.

A Noisy, Dreary Place. Saturday March 14, 10:06 a.m. Meet on the steps of the Art Institute, Adams and Michigan. We visit sites including the Pullman Building (pictured above) where Robert Todd Lincoln worked and the Clifton House where Mary, Robert, and Tad lived and where Tad died in 1871.

Insane Woman Walking. Saturday March 21, 10:06 a.m. Meet at Daley Plaza, Clark and Washington. Starting at the site of pre- and post-fire Cook County Courthouse, where Lincoln practiced law and where his coffin was visited by mourners, and where Mary Todd was declared insane. Ending at the site where Mary attempted suicide.

A Mighty Good Road. Saturday March 28, 10:06 a.m. Meet at the Great Hall of Union Station. Sites include location of pre-fire Union Depot where Lincoln’s Funeral Train departed for Springfield and location of the Van Buren (LaSalle) Station, where the Rock Island Line headed west to cross the Mississippi for the first time in 1856 (thanks to Lincoln).

Reservations required. To register, send an email to tour guide David Clark at: dave@windycityroadwarrior.com . Or call 312-432-1284.Each tour will start at 10:06 a.m. (66 minutes after 9 a.m.)! All participants in the tour will pay a discounted price less than 66% of the regular $25.00 per person cost—that is only $15.00 per guest for a 2-hour adventure.

Tours subject to cancellation if fewer than SIX reservations are received by the Friday before each tour.

Tour Participants receive a 10% discount off of The Roads That Lead to Lincoln. To receive the book discount, the book must be ordered at the time of tour reservation.

1865 Cook County Courthouse where over 100,000 mourners paid their last respects to Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln visited Chicago repeatedly during a 13-year span from 1847 to 1860, and his funeral train came through the city in 1865. Tad Lincoln died here, Mary attempted suicide here, and Robert Todd Lincoln became a lawyer and practiced law here. This tour will visit many sites important to the Lincoln legacy in Chicago.

The tour will meet in the Great Hall of Union Station at 10:06 a.m.

Tour Highlights:
• The location of pre-Chicago Fire Union Depot, where Lincoln often arrived in town from Springfield and where his Funeral Train departed.
• The site of the Grand Pacific Hotel. Mary Todd Lincoln attempted suicide here.
• Where the Cook County Courthouse stood (pictured above). Abe Lincoln practiced law here, and 7000 mourners per hour filed past his open casket in May 1865.
• Site of the Wigwam, where Lincoln was nominated for President in 1860.
• And much, much more!

Reservations required. To register, send an email to tour guide David Clark at: dave@windycityroadwarrior.com or call 312-432-1284.
On Saturday February 7th we will start at 10:06 a.m. (66 minutes after 9 a.m.)! All participants in the tour will pay a discounted price less than 66% of the regular $25.00 per person cost—that is only $15.00 per guest for a 2-hour adventure.
Tour subject to cancellation if fewer than SIX reservations are received by 2/6/15.

The Roads that Lead to Lincoln

Tour Participants receive a 10% discount off of my book, The Roads That Lead to Lincoln. That is only $13.50 for the book including tax!Book order must be made at time of tour reservation.

…and there is still time to join us! The tour begins at the Chicago Hilton Hotel, 720 S. Michigan Avenue, at exactly 12:06 p.m. (66 minutes after 11 a.m.!).

From the railroad era through the Route 66 era, Michigan Avenue and Jackson Boulevard were the main destinations for tourists and visitors in Chicago. Our December 6th Stroll on Chicago’s Route 66 will trace the history of lodgings, rail stations, and other attractions that brought the world to Chicago’s “route center.”
The tour will meet on Sunday, November 6th at 12:06 p.m. (66 minutes after 11 a.m.) at the historic Chicago Hilton Hotel, 720 S. Michigan Avenue. When built in 1927, it was the Stevens, the largest hotel in the world and convenient to two of Chicago’s six passenger rail stations: the Illinois Central and the Dearborn Station.
We will walk north along Michigan Avenue and discuss the Blackstone, the Congress, the Auditorium, the Richelieu, and the Stratford Hotels. Along the way, we will discuss “smoke-filled rooms,” labor unrest, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, and the changing face of Chicago.
Turning west on Jackson, we will see the original starting point of Route 66, Chicago’s most musical corner, and the site of former luxury hotels: the Wellington, designed by Henry Ives Cobb; Burnham & Root’s Great Northern and Majestic; and Boyington and Jenney’s Grand Pacific. The tour will end at Adams and LaSalle, where the former Midland Hotel lives on as the W, and a bank building designed by D.H. Burnham & Company is now home to the J.W. Marriott. By the end of our walk, we will have a thorough understanding of why this corridor has been home to Chicago’s visitors for 140 years.
All participants in the tour will pay a discounted price equal to 66% of the regular $18.00 per person cost—that is only $12.00 per guest for a 2-hour adventure. Reservations required. To register, send an email to: dave@windycityroadwarrior.com . Or Contact Me Here: http://windycityroadwarrior.com/Contact.html
Or call me at 312-432-1284.
I hope to see you Strolling Chicago’s Route 66 (and neighborhood) TOMORROW, November 6th, at 12:06!

On the September 23rd, I had the pleasure of leading a group of La Grange IL middle school students on a trip to Springfield, Illinois. On a break when I had some free time, I took a close look at Springfield’s Union Station. I published pictures of this visit in an album on my Facebook page last week. I have now used those same photos on a dedicated Springfield Union Station blog page with a lot more background information than on the Facebook album.

This new Union Station page is part of my ongoing attempts to add more exclusive content to WindyCityRoadWarrior.com. I will be adding more articles, photos, and research-in-progress projects as time goes on. I would appreciate your feedback about what you like, your critical concerns, and what you would like to see more of in the future. Feel free to comment on this post, send an email to: dave@windycityroadwarrior.com. Or Contact Me Here: http://windycityroadwarrior.com/Contact.html
You can also send me a twitter message or call me at 312-432-1284.

… this time I speak! I was asked the question why people come to Chicago from all around the world for their 66 adventure and I said, “It is the adventure of a lifetime that they’ve been looking forward to.” Enjoy!

…will begin at Dearborn Station and end with a bar crawl from the Berghoff to Miller’s Pub! It will begin at 6:06 p.m. (exactly 66 minutes after 5!) Along the way we will walk a street that was a notorious red light district at the turn of the 20th century (as far as I know, all the brothels are long gone). We will discuss many of the early skyscrapers of Chicago along Dearborn from Congress to Jackson, including the magnificent Monadnock Building.

When we reach the Federal Center, we will discuss its architecture and controversies about its construction and the structures demolished to build it. We will discuss the famous trial that happened in the old court building on this site in which Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion.

After visiting the breathtaking lobby of the Marquette Building featuring a dazzling Tiffany mosaic, we will next discuss the history of the Berghoff restaurant and its historic buildings dating from 1872–and how a little political intrigue in the early 1960s nearly led to their destruction.

Then, it will be time for libations! We will visit the Berghoff Bar at 17 West, where tour patrons can enjoy the ambiance and if they wish purchase a Berghoff Beer (or a Berghoff Root Beer).

Neon sign at Millers Pub, Wabash north of Adams (Route 66), Chicago

We will end the tour discussing the history of Miller’s Pub, its move from the original location on Adams around the corner to Wabash, and then patrons can enjoy a beverage if they wish at the bar!

All participants in the tour will pay a discounted price equal to 66% of the regular $18.00 per person cost—that is only $12.00 per guest for a 2-hour adventure.

Misting fourntain at Mary Bartelme Park, where the tour ended on September 6.

…It was a leisurely, fun, and fact-filled 2 hour tour for 15 happy folks at 1:06 p.m. on September 6th. We walked from Jackson Boulevard and Jefferson Street in Chicago, right across the street from Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant. Along the way we saw Chicago’s oldest church, a stretch of street that was Route 66 for only nine months back in 1953, Greektown’s restaurant row, beautiful restorations and reuses of buildings once part of the West Loop manufacturing district, the home of Bay’s English Muffins, and a visit to beautiful Mary Bartelme Park. To see more details of the tour, click here

I will be posting more info about next month’s Stroll on Chicago’s Route 66, happening on October 6th at 6:06 p.m.! For a sneak preview, click here

…the first of a monthly series of special walking tours! What better day each month to celebrate the history and importance of Route 66 in Chicago than the 6th? Explore the Double-6 and its neighborhood every month on the 6th!

Month in and Month out, keep your eye on the 6th and if you are available and in the area, you will find me talking and walking somewhere on or about Route 66 in Chicago!

The time of day that each tour starts will vary, but it will always be 66 minutes after an hour! (The first tour on 9/6/11 will start at 12:66 p.m., a.k.a. 1:06 p.m. to most folks!)

On September 6th, we will explore the sights and history of Chicago’s West Loop and Greektown on and around Route 66. We will walk a street that was part of the 66 alignment for a short nine months back in 1953. We will talk about today’s restaurants and the early 20th century pioneers of affordable dining from which our current favorites evolved. We will discuss the changes in transportation through the decades that transformed this section of Chicago from tall-grass prairie to shipping center to railroad mecca and to highway corridor. Along the way, we will mention Lou Mitchell, architect Alfred Alschuler, Albert Loeb and his infamous son, and so much more!

This tour will explore the Near West Side and Greektown. It will start at Jackson and Jefferson, across the street from Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant. All participants in the tour will pay a discounted price equal to 66% of the regular $18.00 per person cost—that is only $12.00 per guest for a 2-hour adventure. Reservations required. Tour subject to cancellation if fewer than 6 reservations are received by 9/5/11. The first six people to make reservations will receive a FREE set of five full-color Route 66 postcards!

Future tours in the Stroll 66 on the 6th series will be scheduled for mornings, some in the afternoon, and some will be during Happy Hour after people are done with their 9-to-5s! (These might even include a bar crawl or two, or SIX!) Ideas in the planning stages include a tour/bar crawl that will start at Dearborn Station and include stops for libations at the Bar at the Berghoff and at Miller’s Pub, LaSalle Street Corridor tour, and a tour including the Hull House area, Maxwell Street, the Chicago Fire Academy, and the site of Grand Central Station. Stay tuned!